A Wiltshire canal charity has been fined £30,000 after a voluntary worker was fatally crushed.
Peter Konitzer was helping Wilts & Berks Canal Trust with restoration work on part of the canal at Pewsham locks on 24 August 2016.
The 62-year-old was inside an excavation removing temporary propping supporting the wall, when a section of the wall collapsed on him.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Wiltshire Police found the charity failed to ensure the safety of volunteers.
The temporary propping was inadequate and there was no clear method for the safe installation or removal of props.
HSE inspector James Lucas said: “This was a tragic and wholly avoidable incident.
“The situation which led to Peter’s death would not have arisen had the temporary structural works been properly planned and implemented to ensure a suitable safe system of work prior to the incident.
“It is essential that those in control of work of this nature devise safe methods of working and to provide the necessary information, instruction, and training to their workers to ensure their safety.”
Volunteers routinely helped the trust with tasks like clearing rubbish and overgrowth from canal sites. But increasingly the trust had involved volunteers in light construction works.
On 24 June 2024, at Swindon Magistrates’ Court, Wilts & Berks Canal Trust, of Dauntsey Lock, Chippenham, Wiltshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. The trust was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £10,822 costs.
The prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Iain Jordan and supported by HSE paralegal officer Rebecca Withell.
